William (Bill) Farrer, a Clermont resident and World War II veteran, celebrated his 90th birthday and autographed his story in the "LC Florida Veterans Collection of Memoirs Vol. 2 : World War II".
On Monday morning, before his daughter's flew back to Michigan, the Friends of Cooper Memorial Library Veterans History Committee asked Bill to autograph his story featured in the "WWII Veterans Memoirs" book that is in the Reference collection of Cooper Memorial Library.
Photo taken in the Reference area: Seated, William (Bill) Farrer, Clermont resident and WWII veteran who served as an Air Gunner in the Royal Canadian Air Force after enlisting on April 24, 1940 at the age of 18. Seated next to Bill, wife June. L to R standing: Daughters Wendy Betway and Judy Romak. And Beth Lucas, Cooper Memorial Library. READ MORE>>>
Bill Farrer was raised on a farm in Newcastle, Brunswick, one of six children; two sisters, three brothers. They all worked hard on farm chores.
Young Bill was athletic. The kids had a baseball diamond on the farm and ice skating in town.
Bill and his high school classmates once went "on strike"; i.e., a walkout, refused to go to classes. The roof of the field house collapsed due to storm damage; the city was too slow repairing the roof, so they protested!
In the early romance department, Bill was the go-between for his sister, Amber, and her future husband, Art. Bill and Art are still friends today.
Bill always had plans to enter the Royal Air Force after his 18th birthday. And he did just that.
(The following explains the heart of the story regarding his parachuting from a damaged plane following a mission over Germany -- and his initiation into the "Caterpillar Club", reserved for airmen who survived bailing out from their planes.)
While engaged in a bomb mission over Stuttgart, Germany, his plane was shot at and damaged. The chilling message from the pilot::
"I CAN GET YOU BACK TO ENGLAND, BUT I CAN'T LAND THE PLANE!!"
Eight to ten crew were on board. Bill was the designated, career tail gunner. A unanimous vote was for the return to England, and subsequent bailout. Another yet unspoken option was to bail out over Germany and in all likelihood become Prisoners of War, if they survived the jump.
Vulnerable to attack, it seemed like a mighty long, slow flight. However, they made it back successfully and crew members bailed out according to plan. The damaged plane was abandoned in the air.
Sadly, the empty plane hit a house on landing and two people were killed. The crew were very saddened by the casualties on the ground.
Bill served a total of 59 months in the Royal Air Force, with an unknown number of missions. An amazing 39 missions known in first enlistment! (You might ask him).
After the war, he married Ruth McLean. Bill is the father of two daughters, Judy and Wendy. Theirs was a popular home for the young set - largely due to Bill's temperament. He loved children, took them fishing, always calm, patient, even-tempered and low key. Wood whittling was Bill's hobby. .
Bill attended the University of New Brunswick, interested in becoming a Forestry Engineer at that time.
Retirement from Ford Motor Co. Life was good until Ruth died in 1989.
However, a matchmaker put two and two together. One year later Bill was introduced to June Kugler whose husband had also died in 1989. They were married in 1991, recently celebrating their 20th anniversary.
